A member of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) communications team, Hamza Suhuyini, has rejected claims that the Mahama administration has abandoned the Energy Sector Recovery Programme (ESRP), insisting that key pillars of the initiative are being actively implemented.
His response comes against the backdrop of recent nationwide power outages and criticism from the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the government has deviated from the recovery plan initiated under the previous administration.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, May 3, 2026, Mr Suhuyini argued that the government’s actions demonstrate clear continuity with the ESRP, particularly in the renegotiation of power agreements with Independent Power Producers (IPPs).
“They claim that we abandoned their energy sector recovery plan. Did we? Like I indicated, the first plan is renegotiation of IPPs. Upon the assumption of office, we successfully renegotiated IPPs and saved this country in excess of $250 million. And if they are current, with even the budget that was presented to them for 2026, they would have discovered those figures in there,” he said.
The ESRP is designed to restore financial sustainability to Ghana’s power sector by addressing legacy debts, reducing technical and commercial losses, improving revenue mobilisation, and renegotiating costly power purchase agreements with IPPs.
Mr Suhuyini maintained that the government has also advanced the programme’s revenue mobilisation targets through strict adherence to the cash waterfall mechanism, a system used to distribute revenue across the energy value chain.
“So that is a commitment to the first place of their energy sector recovery plan. That cannot be evidence of a government that has abandoned same. Secondly, in terms of revenue mobilisation, remember that it is this government that complied fully with the cash waterfall mechanism,” he said.
He added that the policy had significantly improved the financial position of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
“And as a result of that, we succeeded in moving the earnings of ECG from about $900 million to $1.6 billion — actually $1.7 billion — in a mater of a year,” he stated.
On operational efficiency, Mr Suhuyini pointed to efforts to reduce technical losses through reforms in the metering system, despite initial criticism from political opponents.
“So that tells you that this is not a government that has abandoned the second pillar also of their energy sector recovery plan. And in terms of technical losses, remember that when we started with the metering system, there were those who described the meters as being ‘Usain Bolt meters’. When government planned to roll out policies to prevent technical losses within the sector, they did not appreciate that we were still in compliance with the energy sector recovery plan they are talking about today,” he said.
He further highlighted progress in addressing legacy debts within the sector, noting that these obligations have been renegotiated and reprofiled to ease the repayment burden.
“And the last being the legacy debts. If you look at the legacy debts, we have been able to renegotiate them, and today they have been reprofiled to 2028. given the Government of Ghana room to be able to honour these debts within a four-year period,” he added.
Mr Suhuyini insisted that the government remains fully committed to the ESRP, dismissing the opposition’s criticism as a misunderstanding of the programme’s implementation.
“So that is in full compliance with the energy sector plan. The Press conference they organised is rather a demonstration of their own failure to understand the energy sector plan they were championing and are talking about today,” he said.
“And that tells you the appreciation of the NPP when it comes to the energy sector, and the fact that they are challenged. So if they do not understand what is happening, you can forgive their ignorance in that direction in terms of government’s commitment. But it does not mean that government is not committed to the energy sector plan.”
